276 Twenty-seventh x\nnual Report 



were grown : New York or Los Angeles, Large Hanson, Denver Mar- 

 ket, Iceberg, Alay King, Early Curled Simpson, Grand Rapids, White 

 Paris Cos, Salamander, California Cream Butter, Big Boston, and 

 White Summer Cabbage. Work at the Phoenix Farm the same year 

 was designed to determine the value of manure in accelerating the 

 maturity of the crop. 



Following the first year's work an acre of ground at the IMesa 

 Farm is now in variety and cultural experiments to determine (1) If 

 any variety of the crisp type of lettuce is superior to the New York 

 for market purposes; (2) If there are marked dififerences in different 

 strains of New York; (3) What quantity of manure is desirable for 

 the crop; (4) Can cotton seed meat be substituted for barnyard manure 

 as a fertilizer; (5) Which method of culture is to be preferred — one 

 single row on each ridge, double rows to the ridge, or flooding the crop. 

 This work up to this time offers the following conclusions : 



1. The crisp type of lettuce represented by New York, Iceberg, 

 and many other varieties are to be preferred for Arizona conditions to 

 the butter head type represented by Big Boston, Tennis Ball, and many 

 other varieties. 



2. Drilling the seed makes thinning easier than dropping the seed 

 in hills. 



3. Thinning can be done better and cheaper when the plants are 

 very small. 



4. Crowding in the row or delay in thinning delays maturity. 



5. A heavy soil lacking enough organic matter to make it crum- 

 ble can delay the maturity of the crop several weeks. 



6. Applying rotted manure in large quantities ( 10 to 20 tons per 

 acre), or plowing under a cover crop is necessary for a profitable crop 

 in most soils. 



7. It takes about 90 days of good growing weather to mature 

 the crisp type of lettuce. 



8. Poor seed, poor soil, cold weather, delayed thinning, and poor 

 cultivation will increase this time. 



ARIZONA CLIMATE AND BEAN ANTHRACNOSE 



In the spring of 1916, Mr. A. N. Brown, editor of the Fruit Belt, 

 Grand Rapids, Michigan, wrote that he had heard that anthracnose did 

 not aft'ect beans in this State. If this was true he thought Michigan 

 growers would profit by using seed grown in Arizona. The writer was 

 detailed to study the question. 



Through the kindness of the W. A. Burpee Seed Company, of 

 Philadelphia, samples of 36 varieties of beans were donated to the 



